I purchased a can of CENTO brand San Marzano Tomatoes at two different stores this week. Looking closer at the cans, I notice that one of the cans has DOP on the printed Label and the other can (from the other store) has the word Certified printed on the Label. (It is also missing the small symbols on the can)

My questions:

Does it really make that big of a difference? Are they claiming the same thing?Do I have cause for concern about this?

Cento Certified San Marzano Tomatoes have been, and continue to be grown and produced in the Sarnese Nocerino area of Italy. They continue to follow the same high quality standards that Cento has always stood by.

After our new crop was approved and certified authentic, a new organization was appointed to govern our labels. After months of delay in their response, we were notified that our label design no longer conformed to their requirements. Due to the unreasonable nature of the new label requirements, Cento has decided to remove the DOP seals from its label; however, they remain Certified San Marzano Tomatoes and continue to follow the same high quality standards.

Our Cento Certified San Marzano Tomatoes are certified by the largest third party certifying body in the European Union. We assure you, in no way has this product's certifications and quality standards changed. Your are paying for the same certified, high quality product, sure to beat any other certified San Marzano tomato brand. Thank you for submitting your inquiry regarding Cento San Marzano Tomatoes.

Michael CapriConsumer RelationsCento Fine Foods, Inc.

FWIW, I prefer the Cento Italian (in the 35oz can). They are half the cost, more tomato, and IMO, taste better than most any other tomato. It's just about all I use.

Interestingly, I asked them two similar, but slightly different questions on two different occasions, and got this same answer both times. The second time, I tried asking a follow-up question twice and didn't get a response either time.

Thank you for the reply. That clears up the confusion for me and probably others as well. Perhaps any cans of CENTO with the symbol DOP, are old cans since they had to switch labeling. However, they are really great tasting tomatoes. I have tried many recipes with them, but I have yet to try them on a pizza with only some sprinkled sea salt. That will be my next pizza experiment. Thanks again for your comments.